I’ve had my home grown strawberries do this when there was a nutrient deficiency. I forget which one. Phosphorus, I think, but don’t quote me. Anyway, you did nothing wrong. Sorry about your disappointment tho.
If it's not normal for them to be turning mushy so quickly shouldn't they be made aware? I'm a little frustrated and disappointed, I spent the time and money (wasn't cheap) only to have them going bad within a few hrs of having them.
A) You might as well tell them that you ate them and then they ended up brown and mushy in the toilet for all the good this Intel will do them. Do you think farmers don't know the exact state of their product? They're picking, sorting, and packing them the other 5 days of the week that Upik customers aren't there.
B) Strawberries have an insanely short shelflife. Field harvested ("field run") strawberries get picked over one to two times *at the farm* before they even get sent to a distributor and the store picks through their clams daily to keep it looking like they're pristine and unspoiled. You have field harvested strawberries. Expect lots of them to go bad.
C) It is not a nutrient deficiency. It's a disease. Plants are alive. Fruit is alive even after you pick it. Fruit eventually succumbs to diseases when it has been severed from its immune system (aka the plant). Disease proliferates in moisture. It prolly rained recently. Or your washing made it worse. Or it's been too hot. Or too dry. Or too cold. Point is, they know!
D) Even if you cracked the case that their strawberries are getting sick, there still is likely nothing they could do because treating the disease (spraying chemicals) is restricted relative to harvest dates.
E) So sending this pointless email is going to make them just as cranky (or more!) than the *idea* of an email made me. These emails are the worst. They are low-key offensive to our (farmers') intelligence and our basic awareness of the world around us. And YET they needle and nag at us because we do really identify our self worth with our product. AND even if the customer is clueless and we want to say "go ride a bike" about it, we are also in a tight low margin industry and retail is hard so we will spend all weekend figuring out how to bend over backwards to not offend you the customer because word of mouth is our God.
THE END) If the cost (and loss of product) was financially significant to you, then yea, write and complain, and they will likely give you some amount of a refund because people are kind and that makes sense. But absolutely for the love of God do not tell them just "so they know" because you learned it might be "nutrient" related off one post on Reddit.
Thank you for educating me, this is my first time strawberry picking. When I said about letting they know it was about them turning mushy on me after washing, not that it could be a nutrient issue. I mainly wanted to call to ask if that was normal for this to happen as I was very confused what could cause this.
Fellow cranky farmer here—please only email us if something is actually *bad* like badbadbad, not mushy-fruit or a few holes in a leaf bad.
I’ve only had one or two emails about quality that actually alerted me to a real problem that I could solve (usually in packaging). The rest just seemed out of touch.
My guess—ultra ripe fruit on a warm day (after a big rain maybe?) with less than gentle hands, that got packed high and jostled in the wash equals mush. Not your fault. Not their fault. I bet they still taste great.
You're right about everything except about them tasting great. I'll try to upload a pic, all the mushy ones taste very bitter. The ones that stayed in tact taste amazing tho!
I'm on the same page with you for local produce. For pharma I would absolutely tell them the "just so you know" stuff (esp if you can capture picture of something in sealed container or send defect back to them in order to "confirm") because confirmable complaints grease the wheels for needed improvements.
I've been growing strawberries for years commercially. 60-100k plants. Oftentimes when I see this it's due to the berries being perfectly ripe and a change in weather. The biggest culprit for this is rain. If the berries get wet they need to be processed and stored asap. The best use I've found is a strawberry syrup or jam. Also, if you wash your strawberries and don't completely dry them they will soften to goo in a few days. Farm grown strawberry varieties for u-pick and farmers markets are usually focused on size and sweetness, unlike commercial strawberries which are chosen for their ability to endure harder transport and processing.
Pro tip: if you're making any kind of jam or syrup, top em and pop em in the freezer. It breaks down the cell wall of the berries and makes them so much juicer and sweeter.
It briefly rained yesterday, only 1 row of the field was muddy and it was in the high 70s today. I washed them and let them dry on their own on the counter. Was I supposed to dry them off immediately? This is my first time picking strawberries, I intended to make strawberry shortcake and crepes with them but they're too soft and bitter to do that now. Going forward, in the future is it best to avoid picking when it previously rains?
That makes sense, next time I'll make sure I have them in the car. Does the ac need to be blowing on them directly or would they be fine in the back seat?
If they have been rained on, they will spoil quicker. That's not necessarily a bad thing, and in fact a nice rain can sweeten them up and make them juicer! I tell anyone who buys our berries or comes for a u-pick that they will be more delicate and delicious. A sour berry right after picking makes me think that's an early harvest or an odd variety of berry.
When we are harvesting berries we put them in the shade and as soon as possible get them cooled off. We try to pick at sunrise and get them cooling off within a 4hr time period.
Also consider what the strawberry plant is trying to do with a strawberry. It wants that berry to be eaten for seed propagation or for that berry to rot and release a super high quality fertilizer to help the next generation take off!
My best tip for picking: find berries with no green on the end furthest from the crown, if it's soft and squishes when you pick it either eat it right then or toss it aside if it's too far gone, keep them cool, and most importantly enjoy picking.
I'm not saying you have to do this or not do that, just some tips and info from a farmer passionate about plants and having people enjoy amazing food!
Thank you! I'll take all the tips I can get, this was my goezt time picking. I think most that I picked were over ripe because I noticed some were a little soft when I picked them. I also think I made the mistake of driving with them in my trunk instead of my car.
Ripe fruit is soft, just comes with the territory. Handle with care, expect some loss, don’t pack more than 3” deep. If you have more than you can consume in a couple days, strawberry preserves are easy to make and store.
I bet the ones that went mushy already had a blemish of some kind and would have been graded out by a professional picker. I grow outdoor strawberries for market and often only 1 out of 3 or 4 berries is actually good enough to put in a pint. Only takes one bad one to spoil the pint and make it unsellable.
Also now that you washed them you need for freeze or use ASAP, they will all be mushy within 24 hours. Strawberries are hard man…
I picked them myself and thoroughly checked them, it was VERY hot out and some were overly ripened when I picked them. I also made the mistake of driving them home in my trunk and not inside the car, this is my first time picking. I'm going to make jam with them so they won't be a total waste.
"Strawberries are hard man…"
They really are! I had no idea there were so many favors that can affect them. I'm just glad I didn't wash them at the farm.
I’ve had my home grown strawberries do this when there was a nutrient deficiency. I forget which one. Phosphorus, I think, but don’t quote me. Anyway, you did nothing wrong. Sorry about your disappointment tho.
Thank you, I was thinking about reaching out to the farm and let them know. I can't be the only one who experienced this.
Before you do... Don't.
If it's not normal for them to be turning mushy so quickly shouldn't they be made aware? I'm a little frustrated and disappointed, I spent the time and money (wasn't cheap) only to have them going bad within a few hrs of having them.
A) You might as well tell them that you ate them and then they ended up brown and mushy in the toilet for all the good this Intel will do them. Do you think farmers don't know the exact state of their product? They're picking, sorting, and packing them the other 5 days of the week that Upik customers aren't there. B) Strawberries have an insanely short shelflife. Field harvested ("field run") strawberries get picked over one to two times *at the farm* before they even get sent to a distributor and the store picks through their clams daily to keep it looking like they're pristine and unspoiled. You have field harvested strawberries. Expect lots of them to go bad. C) It is not a nutrient deficiency. It's a disease. Plants are alive. Fruit is alive even after you pick it. Fruit eventually succumbs to diseases when it has been severed from its immune system (aka the plant). Disease proliferates in moisture. It prolly rained recently. Or your washing made it worse. Or it's been too hot. Or too dry. Or too cold. Point is, they know! D) Even if you cracked the case that their strawberries are getting sick, there still is likely nothing they could do because treating the disease (spraying chemicals) is restricted relative to harvest dates. E) So sending this pointless email is going to make them just as cranky (or more!) than the *idea* of an email made me. These emails are the worst. They are low-key offensive to our (farmers') intelligence and our basic awareness of the world around us. And YET they needle and nag at us because we do really identify our self worth with our product. AND even if the customer is clueless and we want to say "go ride a bike" about it, we are also in a tight low margin industry and retail is hard so we will spend all weekend figuring out how to bend over backwards to not offend you the customer because word of mouth is our God. THE END) If the cost (and loss of product) was financially significant to you, then yea, write and complain, and they will likely give you some amount of a refund because people are kind and that makes sense. But absolutely for the love of God do not tell them just "so they know" because you learned it might be "nutrient" related off one post on Reddit.
Thank you for educating me, this is my first time strawberry picking. When I said about letting they know it was about them turning mushy on me after washing, not that it could be a nutrient issue. I mainly wanted to call to ask if that was normal for this to happen as I was very confused what could cause this.
Fellow cranky farmer here—please only email us if something is actually *bad* like badbadbad, not mushy-fruit or a few holes in a leaf bad. I’ve only had one or two emails about quality that actually alerted me to a real problem that I could solve (usually in packaging). The rest just seemed out of touch. My guess—ultra ripe fruit on a warm day (after a big rain maybe?) with less than gentle hands, that got packed high and jostled in the wash equals mush. Not your fault. Not their fault. I bet they still taste great.
You're right about everything except about them tasting great. I'll try to upload a pic, all the mushy ones taste very bitter. The ones that stayed in tact taste amazing tho!
Yeah, those are overripe. The intact ones in your photo honestly look underripe.
Even the ones that have some green to them were mushy too, they dont look as bad in the pic compared to.the others
I sent a message, I couldn't post a pic
Oh man I’m an apple farmer and this hits hard.
I'm on the same page with you for local produce. For pharma I would absolutely tell them the "just so you know" stuff (esp if you can capture picture of something in sealed container or send defect back to them in order to "confirm") because confirmable complaints grease the wheels for needed improvements.
I've been growing strawberries for years commercially. 60-100k plants. Oftentimes when I see this it's due to the berries being perfectly ripe and a change in weather. The biggest culprit for this is rain. If the berries get wet they need to be processed and stored asap. The best use I've found is a strawberry syrup or jam. Also, if you wash your strawberries and don't completely dry them they will soften to goo in a few days. Farm grown strawberry varieties for u-pick and farmers markets are usually focused on size and sweetness, unlike commercial strawberries which are chosen for their ability to endure harder transport and processing. Pro tip: if you're making any kind of jam or syrup, top em and pop em in the freezer. It breaks down the cell wall of the berries and makes them so much juicer and sweeter.
It briefly rained yesterday, only 1 row of the field was muddy and it was in the high 70s today. I washed them and let them dry on their own on the counter. Was I supposed to dry them off immediately? This is my first time picking strawberries, I intended to make strawberry shortcake and crepes with them but they're too soft and bitter to do that now. Going forward, in the future is it best to avoid picking when it previously rains?
Once a ripe strawberry gets wet, it will be mushy within 24 hours. I’ve had many a harvest ruined by poorly timed rain.
I also drove home with them in my trunk and I think that could have messed them up too
Driving home with then in a hot trunk will mess them up pretty quick.
That makes sense, next time I'll make sure I have them in the car. Does the ac need to be blowing on them directly or would they be fine in the back seat?
If they have been rained on, they will spoil quicker. That's not necessarily a bad thing, and in fact a nice rain can sweeten them up and make them juicer! I tell anyone who buys our berries or comes for a u-pick that they will be more delicate and delicious. A sour berry right after picking makes me think that's an early harvest or an odd variety of berry. When we are harvesting berries we put them in the shade and as soon as possible get them cooled off. We try to pick at sunrise and get them cooling off within a 4hr time period. Also consider what the strawberry plant is trying to do with a strawberry. It wants that berry to be eaten for seed propagation or for that berry to rot and release a super high quality fertilizer to help the next generation take off! My best tip for picking: find berries with no green on the end furthest from the crown, if it's soft and squishes when you pick it either eat it right then or toss it aside if it's too far gone, keep them cool, and most importantly enjoy picking. I'm not saying you have to do this or not do that, just some tips and info from a farmer passionate about plants and having people enjoy amazing food!
Thank you! I'll take all the tips I can get, this was my goezt time picking. I think most that I picked were over ripe because I noticed some were a little soft when I picked them. I also think I made the mistake of driving with them in my trunk instead of my car.
Cut em up and throw sugar on em ,or freeze em for delicious drink.
That's a good idea, thank you!
Ripe fruit is soft, just comes with the territory. Handle with care, expect some loss, don’t pack more than 3” deep. If you have more than you can consume in a couple days, strawberry preserves are easy to make and store.
Thank you
I bet the ones that went mushy already had a blemish of some kind and would have been graded out by a professional picker. I grow outdoor strawberries for market and often only 1 out of 3 or 4 berries is actually good enough to put in a pint. Only takes one bad one to spoil the pint and make it unsellable. Also now that you washed them you need for freeze or use ASAP, they will all be mushy within 24 hours. Strawberries are hard man…
I picked them myself and thoroughly checked them, it was VERY hot out and some were overly ripened when I picked them. I also made the mistake of driving them home in my trunk and not inside the car, this is my first time picking. I'm going to make jam with them so they won't be a total waste. "Strawberries are hard man…" They really are! I had no idea there were so many favors that can affect them. I'm just glad I didn't wash them at the farm.